Radicalisation In British Prisons: Innovation, Not Isolation

Can prisons effectively challenge extremist perspectives, or do they incubate and encourage them to spread? How should we deal those who, like Choudary, are able to persuade and recruit individuals towards an extremist, and in some cases violent, mindset?

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Nour Kobayter
A Middle East enthusiast currently knee deep in her MSc. at LSE

DanHenson1 via Getty Images

Anjem Choudary, like many other imprisoned extremists and terrorists, is fortunately no longer able to exert the same influence on society. Rightly however, many have raised concerns over his potential influence on other inmates whilst in prison. Can prisons effectively challenge extremist perspectives, or do they incubate and encourage them to spread? How should we deal those who, like Choudary, are able to persuade and recruit individuals towards an extremist, and in some cases violent, mindset?

The British prison system currently deals with high-security terrorism convicts by sending them to dispersal prisons. These prisoners are distributed around six maximum security dispersal jails, and are regularly transferred from one to another. This is done to prevent them from establishing close relationships with other inmates, with the aim of decreasing the likelihood of radicalisation.

The ICSR's findings point towards a need to expand effective de-radicalisation and re-integration programmes. This would maximise prisons' potential as secure centres for reform and de-radicalisation. Combining de-radicalisation initiatives with specialist units for extremist prisoners can result in a more well-rounded solution: one where prevention and de-radicalisation can occur alongside each other. Furthermore, as Neumann notes, approaches must be contextualised within each social group, as there cannot be one universal approach to tackle radicalisation in prisons.

Proponents of extremist narratives have innovated in their recruitment style, approach and methodology and we should do the same. Choudary was able to tap into the hearts and minds of people who felt disengaged with society, aided and abetted by the platform provided to him by the media. This must not be allowed to occur during his incarceration.

Although there can be no universal strategy that is applicable to every different form of extremism, prisons need improvement. Isolation may be an effective way of preventing radicalisation, but it does not solve the root of the problem - the disengagement with society that leads people to become vulnerable to these toxic narratives.

The best source of innovation is, therefore, a combination of security and preventative measures, and de-radicalisation and re-integration initiatives. Equipping the right people with the necessary tools and confidence to be able to approach and begin to challenge extremist ideology and indoctrination is essential. Prisons should become a place where reform is prioritised, not a space that potentially benefits the same organisations we wish to combat. As Abu Ahmed, a senior ISIS official noted when describing his experience at Bucca, an American jail in Iraq, "If there was no American prison in Iraq, there would be no IS now. Bucca was a factory. It made us all. It built our ideology."